Chapter 17: Counterpoint
We're So Screwed, Part 2
Council Complex…..Later
The team managed to go down several more levels, the cold industrial vibe giving way to something more sterile. The exposed dirty piping, randomly leaking, made of cast iron being replaced by something more akin to clean steel or aluminum. The shine of the pipes reflected the occasional light as they continued to make their way into the complex, the air became charged, almost like static, the smell of ozone from air purifiers in the ventilation.
They figured they had entered into the lab section of the complex, their first target. Judy had finally calmed down, the Barret situation having some physical distance helped to provide a bit of an emotional one, she tried not to think about it, just keep focusing on the task at hand. She looked at Nick with a weary smile, he looked back and would give her a reassuring one. However Nick's thoughts betrayed him, he felt an uneasy tremble in the back of his mind. The scent of it was snapping him right back to being captured; the entire place reeked of that same air-purified ozone scent, as if the very air was manufactured in a lab and dispensed out of some great machine. The fur on the back of his neck stood on end. He wanted to know, yet not know what Clawhauser meant by 'trans-genics' when referring to the animals the council supposedly cooked up, what rotten science experiments they've created. He could only imagine and then realized, his brain wasn't twisted enough to come up with the real answer.
They approached an access door, it was smooth, shiny metal just like the piping, and the floor had changed from simple poured concrete to a smoothed sanded surface, almost like marble.
"Clawhauser…" said Kaiden
"Yes, opening the door now." He replied.
The door unlocked and opened, it was a small room with another door, some kind of clean room airlock. The four walked in and the door closed behind them, the room started to pressurize ever so slightly, and a mist of liquid spilled into the air, meant to capture and dispel any dust. Their ears popped, and the caution lights on the door in front of them lit. A half minute later the door in front of them swung open, and a large open laboratory was in front of them.
The room was adorned with tables of lab equipment, notes strewed around but yet no lab scientists or even guards, and electronic tablets looked as though they were dropped where they lay. Several tanks were dotted around the room with liquid contents of different colors, blue, red, orange, and yellow.
The four trotted around the room, perusing its contents. However, the research notes on the tablets were a smattering of technical lingo and jargon that none of them understood save for a few words that stood out. But the titles on the top of the screens of every single one had a word that gave them a tingle of fear up their spines.
Judy picked up one of the tablets, reading its title "Project: Night Howler" aloud, she spoke in a soft but concerned tone.
"Looks like this is where they make the stuff." offered Kaiden
"This looks like a letter?" said Kit offering up one of the documents he found.
Nick approached, grabbing the document
"It seems to be a letter from a scientist, I guess. Mid-ni-camp-um holi-cith-ias?" he enunciated.
"That's the scientific name for Night Howlers." the bunny replied.
"Carrots, you're going to want to hear this, it's a letter from a scientist to Mei Ling, the tiger lady," said Nick as he read the document, his eyes wide-eyed.
"What?" she inquired trying to reach for the document.
Nick held onto it and read the contents.
"Midnicampum holicithias is a plant varietal that we've discovered possesses certain psychotropic characteristics that might serve our purpose, while in its raw and unrefined state, the effects are minor and temporary, we believe that a more refined version could be created to serve as an effective solution to the program. Phase One would consist of the creation of a more refined plant-based version of the substance."
Judy and Nick looked at each other, almost in disbelief
"Once efficacy has been established, Phase Two would consist of the creation of a wholly chemical version of the substance, further refining out any deleterious effects presenting themselves in Phase One, Phase 3 would possibly consist of the creation of a binary to increase reliability, accuracy, and control. Field tests could begin as soon as phase one. End report." Finished Nick.
"And here is the kicker, Carrots, the report was dated…..5 years ago…"
Judy couldn't believe it, she slammed the table in frustration
"It was them…..the entire time!" he gritted her teeth, gripping the table and scratching into it with her paws.
"But that doesn't make sense….I thought….." Nick replied confused.
"Makes perfect sense Nick, Who do you think gave it to her…" Kaiden stated rhetorically.
Nick raised an eyebrow and while Judy looked at Kaiden in the eyes as she connected the dots in her head, the realization of the connection only angered her further.
"Last I checked, she wasn't a farmer but a politician now turned jailbird. And the effects of Night Howlers, until your big case, were practically unheard of. So of course, the Council discovers it, and decides they need a field test." Kaiden continued eyeballing the tanks of liquid.
"But she had her own agenda…." Judy replied.
"Which I'm sure the council was perfectly happy to exploit. Just because you found one mastermind, doesn't mean there weren't others behind her." Kaiden retorted
"It stands to reason, that's probably been their whole plan from the get-go, destabilize society, make it slow to resist, get infighting started." Commented Kit
Kaiden levied his paw at Kit "Exactly"
"They probably wanted to field test the first version of the night howlers, and they gave it to her, knowing she would be happy to use it." Said Kaiden
"All the while continuing to plan from behind the scenes," concluded Judy
"It was a hustle, make the mark do the work for you. Damn, a classic hustle, only bigger," commented Nick.
"Exactly, just when you think you got it all figured out, you find out they were always there." Said Kaiden.
"But that was then, this is now. And what I want to know is, where the hell are the scientists, why is this room empty?" Judy asked with a sense of foreboding.
"That is the right question," the fox nodded at her and tapped the tip of his nose.
The room not yielding any additional clues, they decided to move on. Judy and Nick were visibly angry, they were tired of seeing the council's involvement in practically everything, even their big case together had an outlying connection to the council and its deeds, Zootopia had a systematic cancer at its heart, a cancer they resolved to remove then and there.
The council's crimes could take potentially years to unravel, but Judy resolved herself, that this is what was wrong with the world, a group of animals thinking they own the world, and that they can play with animals' lives as they see fit. Judy gritted her teeth, she looked at Nick with determination, Nick could almost see the fire in her eyes, the cogs in her head turning.
"I know carrots, we'll get 'em." agreed Nick.
They opened the next door and stood at the threshold, when the door opened, the atmosphere had changed, what once was a somber quiet, became one of concern the next lab over was torn up, piping ripped out, with hanging wires, broken equipment everywhere, lighting was flickering, and near the door on the other side was lit brightly a red warning sign that said "Containment Failure"
They crept forward and cleared the room, still no one here, but this room had signs of rushed movements, maybe even struggle. They reached the other end of the room and opened the door, a hallway, there was evidence of a firefight, bullet holes, flash burns and claw marks, lots and lots of claw marks, the occasional blood spatter, the occasional destroyed fluorescent lighting box, and exposed wiring. The four glanced at each other curiously and then back down the hallway.
They moved forward slowly, Nick and Judy occasionally looking back to check their rear. They could hear unearthly almost primal sounds in the ductwork, an occasional clatter, everyone's ears were perked, instinctively twitching to the slightest provocation of sound.
As they approached the corner they got extra apprehensive when they found a body, a WRC trooper, apparently with his throat torn out. It had happened recently, the blood still in a sticky but liquid state. Then they found another, then another. It was clear something was amiss.
They managed to find a security station, checking the monitors and status panels, some kind of containment had failed. The bank of monitors showed the inside of the large labs, containing glass tanks, inside each was a form, and they resembled animals but none that the group had ever seen before.
They saw some of the tanks broken, with liquid spilled onto the floor, the contents empty. Judy got on the computer and clicked over some of the camera displays
"Could the other B13 teams have made it down here yet?" asked Judy
Kaiden clicked his comm and called for anyone to respond, silence; he clicked and requested again, still silent.
"Either the comms are down, or nobody else is down here."
"Not good in either case," commented Kit
"Agreed. But we have a mission to accomplish, and we still have to find the council, let's cut through the labs, hopefully, we can destroy them on our way down."
"There. We can get in there." Said Judy pointing at a door on the screen.
The group left the security station and moved towards the door to the larger lab section, Clawhauser tried to override the door but to no avail, Kit tried to see if he could pry open the door but it was locked tight, Nick tried to see if there was a pickable lock or hinges he could remove, nothing.
"Could you blow off the door?" asked Kaiden
"I could, but that might set off whatever security is attached to it." Replied Kit
"Damn it, we need to get in here." Muttered Kaiden
The four sat studying the door.
"Maybe I could help with that." Said a voice behind them.
The group spun around, their weapons drawn, and locked gaze with a silver timber wolf in orange and grey WRC garb. The timber wolf pointed his gun at the group who in turn was pointing their weapons right back.
"Woah, wait, I'm not here to hurt you." Said the silver timberwolf
"Funny that, your buddies have been trying. Give me one reason I shouldn't blow your head off right now?" threatened the cyber fox.
"Because I'm here to help you." The wolf replied.
"What?" Kaiden replied with incredulity.
"I was sent emails from someone called, Digital Cheetah?" the wolf inquired for clarification.
Kaiden raised an eyebrow
"Wait, you got messages from "Digital Cheetah"?" the fox replied in surprise.
"Actually it said, Digital Gepard. Well actually it was gibberish, but I figured it out, took me about 20 minutes. How long did it take for you?" the wolf joked.
Kaiden just rolled his eyes with a huff.
"It's called Zoogle, Fox." Quipped the wolf
"Ah Mr. Frost, I was not expecting you to be here." Said Clawhauser on both Frost's helmet radio and Kaiden's team radios.
"Woah, who was that?" asked Frost surprised.
"That would be "Digital Cheetah" AKA A.I. Clawhauser." Replied Kaiden
"Woah, that's... weird," Frost replied unsure of what was going on.
"So who are you, and why are you here?" Kaiden inquired.
"My name is Gideon, Gideon Frost, I am…..or rather was, the Commander of Wolverine Risk Control."
"Was?" inquired Kaiden
"Let's just say, I've been questioning my work environment, and your Clawhauser, told me things, confirming my worst suspicions, that my bosses are dirty, and I can't serve that anymore." Explained Gideon.
"The emails told me about this place, and I came here, and by God, it's a nightmare, an absolute fucking nightmare. He asked me to help you, and I said I'd think about it…..So I guess, I'm helping you." He finished
"But you quit."
"Well, technically no, as far as anyone knows I'm a loyal company man, but I'm deciding to help you." clarified Frost
Kaiden and Kit looked at each other then Judy and Nick, then back at Gideon.
"Can you open this door?" Kaiden asked jutting his thumb.
"H'yeah, in fact, I could probably open every door between here and the bottom floor." Replied Gideon with a smile.
Kaiden while still looking at Gideon held a closed paw towards Kit, which Kit promptly fist-bumped.
"Let me guess, jackpot?" asked Judy jokingly.
"That would be a yes, carrots" replied Nick.
"We got to be careful though, something happened in the labs, there are creatures, running around, some kind of experiments." Warned Gideon as he went to open the door.
Gideon used his biometric ID on the door scanner and it opened, the rush of positive pressure air came flowing towards them, and the smell of chemicals laced the air with a nose-tingling tinge. They stepped into the lab section. The next section was a huge room, filled with tank after tank of trans-genic hybrids in a kind of stasis, waiting to be awoken; each tank was lit, the green fluid glowing with an iridescent color scale. A series of gantry and duct work adorned the upper floors of the room. Gideon escorted them through the room and its maze of tanks.
"My god….." muttered Kit taking in the sheer size of the room and the numerous tanks
"Yeah, I highly doubt God had anything to do with this, Kit," Kaiden replied remarking on what abominations lie in the tanks.
"What is this place?" Asked Judy
"A Halloween horror house." Quipped Nick
"This is the trans-genic lab complex, these tanks are filled with a nano-scale solution for constructing or reconstructing cells on the nano-atomic scale, this is what is allowing the council to build their 'workforce'." Explained Clawhauser.
"Sheesh, sounds science-y" joked Nick
"This technology, could probably heal animals if the council didn't horde it, bastards." Replied Kaiden angrily.
"Yeah, not exactly zooitarians." quipped Kit.
"Playing god," Judy said somberly
"Tag, you're god" joked Nick with a laugh.
Judy batted at him "Be serious Nick."
Kaiden and Kit stopped; they couldn't help it and laughed a few times. Kaiden leaned against a tank with a paw. Turning to Nick
"You guys are great, I love hanging out with you," Kaiden said with a gallows humor chuckle.
"What is so funny, this is serious," Judy said.
Kaiden and Kit came down from their laughter
"Can't help it, the tension was getting a bit much," Kit said with a smile.
As the five approached the middle of the room, the sound of the capacitors in the lights engaged in a deep thud followed by a buzzing, as each row turned on, the group froze, and the click of a loudspeaker and a voice rang out into the room.
"Well, well, well. I didn't think ya'll would make it down here…..And, wait a sec, is that Gideon Frost down there? Holy shit, a traitor AND a coward. Just sit right there, I got something for traitors."
"Is that?" Kit's eyes went wide in anger.
"Kiss my tail, Harding" Frost yelled out into the open room.
Suddenly a shot rang out, and hit the floor in front of the group; they quickly scrambled for cover behind one of the tanks.
"Ya sorry, I got history with this badger," said Frost quietly.
"Well guess what, so do I," replied Kit charging his rifle.
"Aw come on now, don't go runnin', don't ya'll want to play?" taunted Harding over the loudspeaker.
"Kit, we do not have time for this." Explained Kaiden
"Not if we split up." Suggested Kit
"What?" reacted Kaiden
"Look, we got to blow up this lab anyway, we can't do that while we're under fire, if we split up, you can go ahead and find the council, I can stay behind with Gideon and we can take out Harding and blow up the lab."
"You can't be serious," said Judy.
Kaiden looked at Kit, he tried to process what he must be going through, so close to the killer of his wife and children. 'How can I deny him that?' he thought. The lab must be destroyed. Kaiden made his call.
"You be careful and destroy this lab. you got me?"
"We can't just leave him" Judy reacted.
"Frost, you back up my wolf, you understand me?" Kaiden said deadly serious.
"I can, and I will," Gideon replied
"HEY!" yelled Judy waving her paws in front of Kaiden.
Another shot rang out, and whizzed over their heads, the group turned to Judy
"You can't expect me to just be alright with leaving Kit behind."
"Judy, this is the mission, we have to blow up this lab, and we have to stop the council and the Wolfram." Retorted Kaiden.
"I know but…."
"Listen to me, every minute we spend, is another minute these people have to pull off their plan, we HAVE to stop them, no matter the cost."
Judy was taken aback; she couldn't believe what she was hearing. Nick put a paw on her shoulder.
"Carrots, as you said to me, 'this is bigger than all of us'. There is a chance that….." Nick choked on his words.
"There is a chance that none of us will make it out of here alive, even if we succeed." Finished Kit.
"But Kit….." Judy said sadly, shaking her head.
"It's ok Judy, I'm willing to live with that, and….if I have to…." Kit replied, hanging on the pregnant pause.
"How do we get out of here?" Kaiden asked Frost
"You take that door over there into the next section and go down the elevator. Take this card, it will get you in, but I don't know how you will match the biometrics." Replied Frost
"I may be able to handle that, I observed the data of the last scan, and I can fool the system into thinking it's you accessing the doors." Chimed in Clawhauser.
"Alright, good hunting." Said Kaiden to the wolves.
And with that Kaiden, Nick, and Judy made a break for the door, Harding fired a couple of times trying to hit them but to no avail. the trio got to the door, and Judy looked back at Kit crouched with Frost behind the tank, She burned the image into her head, she had a foreboding feeling in the pit of her stomach. Kit looked back at her, the bunny's concerned eyes piercing right through him.
"It's ok Judy, keep moving, and finish the mission," Kit spoke to her from over the comm.
And with that, Kaiden Nick, and Judy went through the door, continuing deeper into the complex.
Council Complex….Lab Section.
The two timber wolves were sitting behind the tank still, trying to come up with a plan. Harding was somewhere up in the gantries sniping down on their position. Every now and then a shot would ring out from Harding.
"So you got some sort of plan?" asked Frost.
"Well, I'm pretty sure he's shooting from that direction, if I can get a bead on him, I can nail him." Replied Kit.
Kit shouldered his rifle and opened his duffle bag, he pulled out two pieces of a long rifle and put them together.
"Counter-snipe?" the wolf asked.
"In Zootopia, anyone can be anything, and I'm going to turn this motherfucker into a grease spot," the blonde wolf quipped.
"I'm pretty sure that's NOT what that means." Frost fired back.
Kit glares at Frost with a raised eyebrow.
"But hey, I could be wrong." He defended, holding his paws up.
"You think you can play Nancy no-bullets with him while I get a bearing on his position?" asked Kit.
"Uh," said Gideon not getting the reference.
"Just pretend you're low on ammo and get him to shoot at you," Kit explained
The blonde and tan wolf got up on his paws and got ready to move out. He tossed Frost a spare rifle, a radio, and two mags from his duffle bag.
"Just don't actually get shot for real…" the wolf advised.
"Yeah, didn't need you to tell me that." Frost quipped back.
"Channel 3" whispered Kit as he moved out.
Frost grabbed the radio and swapped it for his original, setting it to channel 3, pocketed the two mags, and slung the spare rifle over his shoulder. Frost waited for a few minutes.
"Okay, in position, draw him out," whispered Kit.
Frost went out into the open fired a couple rounds in Harding's suspected direction and took cover. Nothing, he did it again, this time getting a response from the badger, a round burst into the ground in front of Gideon as he took cover again.
"You suck, Harding." Called out Gideon.
"Easy to say when you're hiding wolfie." Called out Harding over the speaker.
"You should set up a tent and campfire." Frost taunted.
"It's a legitimate strategy," Harding replied, taking another shot.
This time the bullet struck a pipe on one of the tanks, its contents flowed forth and onto the floor, the intense chemical smell filling the air. It stung Gideon's nose and made him cough, he had to move. He ran away from the chemical and tried hiding by a nearby tank; several more shots rang out, purposefully hitting similar pipes, causing their odorous fluid to spill on the floor.
"Shit," Gideon thought, he tapped his comm.
"He's trying to herd me into the open. This stuff is vile, it makes my eyes water," said Gideon, coughing.
"Yeah, I think I got him, stand by." Replied Kit.
A shot rang out from the other direction and hit somewhere with a loud clang. Frost wasn't sure at first so he waved a paw out in the open hoping it wouldn't get shot off, nothing. He leaned out slightly, but still nothing. He stepped into the open. Still nothing.
"I think you got him" Gideon called over the comm.
"Alright I'm coming out," said Kit.
The two wolves went towards the gantry where the shots had been coming from, they climbed the stairs to the second floor, they approached, but saw only a rifle, with some kind of control arm mechanism attached to it, and a case with electronics in it. The two wolves froze, wide-eyed, and then started to backtrack.
A shot rang out and caught Kit in the shoulder, which knocked him down, he yelled out in pain and clutched his shoulder, his augmented arm was damaged by the round. Frost pulled as hard as he could and yanked him to the end of the catwalk and to a nearby corner.
"Aww, wolfie got a boo-boo?" cackled the Badger tauntingly.
"Can you still shoot?" asked Gideon
"No, arm is shot to hell, literally." Replied Kit.
"Clawhauser?! You there?" Kit inquired.
"I am online." Chimed in the cheetah.
"Is there any way you can help us find this guy?" asked Kit
"I can analyze the remote access signals from additional weapon platforms to triangulate the source, however….." explained Clawhauser.
"However what?" barked Gideon.
"You will need to have him fire for me to be able to triangulate." He finished.
"Oh great" Kit said sarcastically
"Hey I got shot at already, it's your turn." Said Frost.
"I just got shot. So that makes it your turn again." Kit quipped back
"Actually, if you both try to move about, it will accelerate the triangulation, I believe he has more than one emplacement in this room."
Kit and Gideon unslung their rifles and planned a strategy in which they could get Harding to reveal himself. Harding continued to taunt them, trying goading them to make a move, where ever Harding was, he seemed to be invisible.
Kit and Gideon came back down the stairs. They split between two rows of tanks and started moving out, as expected Harding would shoot at one or the other, seemingly from multiple directions at once, The wolves couldn't tell how many remote snipers he had set up, but the fact that Harding had an array meant he could be anywhere. The two wolves alternated the process of stepping out, firing a few rounds in the direction of where the bullets were coming from, and retaking cover. Harding would try to take shots at them. This cat-and-mouse game went back and forth, none of the participants realized the amount of damage they were causing until one of the pipes ruptured and started a fire. The sprinkler system kicked on and water started to spray everywhere trying to cool down the fires. An occasional small pop or pressure explosion would sound out, as either a tank would bust from the temperature difference, or a piece of equipment would collapse.
The smelly fluid that had been spilling on the floor had been revealed to be flammable, the wolves assumed the liquid was the nano-fluid, but the fire proved them wrong. Kit noticed there were open vats of the stuff, a gold-colored liquid not the green one, like the tanks with the creatures. Kit's eyes went wide and keyed his comms
"Gideon, be careful at what you shoot at in here, some of these things, don't react well to bullets." Warned Kit.
"Yeah, I'm coming to grips with that." Responded Gideon
"Clawhauser, have you found this guy yet?" barked Kit
"Triangulation complete, sending data to your personal data device." Replied Clawhauser
Gideon heard another shot whiz over his head and hit the wall behind him.
"Got you now traitor, don't move." Said Harding, this time without the aid of the loudspeaker.
Gideon felt that Harding had him dead to rights; he turned and looked at the catwalk that was above and across from him with his paws raised. There was Tex Harding, the badger sniper, and demolitionist of the 'Fiends' with his rifle levied square at Gideon's head.
"Ya know, I always knew you would be a turncoat," Harding explained.
"Yeah? How do you figure?" Gideon asked back.
"It's that damn pack mentality you wolves have, it always seems to override your sense of attachment to other things." He quipped
"Family is important." Frost quipped back.
"Yeah it is, that's why I figured, somehow, someway, I would kill your family, remove that burden, and bring you completely into the fold."
Gideon was taken aback by that statement, he almost didn't believe what he was hearing, but then he remembered what Kit said "that he has 'history' with Harding."
"So is that what you did to Kit? Did you kill his family?" Gideon inquired.
"Oh, that….That was just a job, a controlled demo of a building and to make it look like an accident. But yeah, I guess that would be an added bonus." He answered
"You got issues, Tex." He fired back
"Well in a second, I'll have one less to worry about." Replied Harding, readying his rifle.
Just as Harding was about to fire, he reacted with a wince, as two shots rang out, his knees buckled and he fell onto the catwalk. He screamed in pain.
"My legs!" he screamed.
Kit stepped out from the shadows behind Harding and flipped him over, staring him in the eyes.
"So…you like killing wolf packs do you?" Kit commented sternly.
Harding smiled sinisterly.
"I'm sorry, who are you?" Harding said flippantly.
Kit scoffed in disbelief
"Kit Ballenger…..you killed my wife and children…."
"Sorry, I don't remember all the faces," Harding replied honestly.
"You don't remember? How can you not remember!?" Kit incensed.
"Well like I was telling Frost. It was just a job, you were a bonus." He glibly said.
"A bonus?! You think this is a fucking game?!"
"To me, it was just a job, your average Tuesday." Replied Harding apathetically shaking his head.
Kit's eyes went wide, and his eyes welled with water, almost as if on automatic, he resolved himself. He grabbed Harding and picked him up, getting muzzle to muzzle, glaring into his eyes. Without a word, Kit dragged him over to a nearby tank of gold liquid
"Hey, what are you doing now?"
"You're taking this kind of personally aren't you?"
Kit threw him over the gantry safety bars and into the gold liquid, Harding splashed into the liquid and treaded back up to the surface, the overpowering aroma of the liquid made the badger go nose deaf.
Kit stared down at Harding, who glared back.
"What you trying to drown me?" said Harding, spitting out the foul-tasting liquid
"No…..my wife and children died in a fire." Kit fired back.
Harding looked back with a crooked expression at Kit. Kit responded with a cold stare almost statue-like, except for his paw, he pulled out a signal flare and ignited it.
"Just do me a favor. When you get to hell…Tell 'em' Kit Ballenger says 'Hi'."
The badger went wide-eyed when he realized what was about to happen, Kit tossed the flare down into the pool of gold liquid and it burst into flame. The badger was engulfed; blood-curdling screams of pain filled the room as he was incinerated. Gideon was in absolute shock, he couldn't believe what was happening. Kit simply watched and tears streamed down his face, for his wife and children, and for a life he would never know. He tried to take some kind of comfort in knowing that the murderer of his wife and children had finally been punished, held accountable for the deeds that for so long remained unpunished.
Eventually, the badger succumbs to the fire and the screams stop. Kit finally blinks, breaking his gaze, and goes down to meet Gideon on the lab floor.
"What now?" asks Gideon.
"Now…..we finish the job." Replies Kit holding up a block of C4.